On cryptocurrencies, digital assets and private money

Abstract

This paper reviews the technical, economic and legal aspects underlying cryptocurrencies — the native digital assets that form the basis of an open public blockchain infrastructure. This structure is then extended to discuss secondary tokens, where blockchains can be leveraged to issue, register and settle digital assets that may represent securities, private forms of money or other property rights. The viability, complexities and limitations of such models are reviewed with the purpose of providing the reader with a strong foundation for deeper exploration of this complex and emerging field.